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Reading Comprehension Instruction for Middle and High School Students in English Language Arts: Research and Evidence-Based Practices

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Improving Reading Comprehension of Middle and High School Students

Part of the book series: Literacy Studies ((LITS,volume 10))

Abstract

Whether driven by individual state or national efforts, the desire by key stakeholder groups to make American students internationally competitive brings a renewed focus on reading comprehension instruction in middle and high schools. Such efforts push reading comprehension instruction beyond understanding text and the author’s message to critical or “close” reading that integrates text-based information with the reader’s prior knowledge resulting in new and expanded understanding of complex ideas. In order to ensure that students become proficient in the type of higher order comprehension expected by more rigorous standards, teachers need to be effective in teaching high impact reading comprehension strategies. In this chapter, we briefly highlight new expectations for English language arts at the middle and high school levels, review reading programs shown to be effective in rigorous research studies that measure reading comprehension or reading achievement outcomes with middle and high school students in core English language arts courses. Finally, we discuss specific reading strategies and vocabulary instruction that support close reading and suggest a model for teaching reading comprehension in middle and high schools.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The WWC does not report effect sizes that are less than 0.25.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Michael F. Hock, Irma F. Brasseur-Hock & Donald D. Deshler

Authors
  1. Michael F. Hock
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  2. Irma F. Brasseur-Hock
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  3. Donald D. Deshler
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Correspondence to Michael F. Hock .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

    Kristi L. Santi

  2. Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

    Deborah K. Reed

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Hock, M.F., Brasseur-Hock, I.F., Deshler, D.D. (2015). Reading Comprehension Instruction for Middle and High School Students in English Language Arts: Research and Evidence-Based Practices. In: Santi, K., Reed, D. (eds) Improving Reading Comprehension of Middle and High School Students. Literacy Studies, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14735-2_5

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